By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
LAS VEGAS -- Nearly 16 months ago, Shane Mosley was emerging from perhaps the worst period of his life.
Mosley's marriage to the mother of three of his four children, was in disarray. The former world champion was under scrutiny after having admitted during leaked grand jury testimony that he had unknowingly used designer steroids that he received from BALCO Founder, Victor Conte, before defeating Oscar De La Hoya in September 2003. And he was entering his first fight under a new trainer after having fired his father, Jack Mosley.
But Mosley said that none of the so-called distractions factored into the fight, which ended with him blasting and battering down the hard-punching, Antonio Margarito over the course of a ninth-round knockout victory that earned Mosley the WBA welterweight (147 pounds) title before the largest crowd ever to witness an athletic event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
"In all honesty, it wasn't what you guys in the media saw in that adversity as far as the divorce, and when you talk about the Victor Conte, and this other stuff, that was already long gone," said Mosley.
"Victor Conte was 2003. That's when that was a problem. And the divorce thing was pretty much already done in 2005, or, 2006," said Mosley. "Maybe it was just being in the gym and training just kept me away from all of that. My concern was winning the fight and being the best that I could be. And I beat the No. 1 guy at welterweight."
The win has the 38-year-old Mosley (46-5, 39 knockouts) facing perhaps the toughest challenge of his career as he enters Saturday night's HBO-televised pay per view clash against slick-boxing, defensive specialist, Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) at the MGM Grand.
"Actually, I feel better than I did before the Margarito fight. Like I said, it's a totally different type of fight. This fight [against Mayweather] is not a strength-type of fight where a guy is going to be throwing a thousand punches and trying to wear me down that way," said Mosley, who stopped Margarito for the first time in his career.
"This is a different fight. This guy is going to try to out-think me," said Mayweather. "So I'll have to use that style of fighting to overcome what he has to offer. But I don't think this guy has faced anybody with my skill, power and know-how about boxing."
The lead up to the fight with Mayweather has also been replete with verbal warfare that can be traced back to September, when Mosley entered the ring following Mayweather's unanimous 12-round decision over Juan Manuel Marquez and interrupted Mayweather's post-fight interview.
"I felt like I had to do something to make this fight happen," said Mosley. "I felt like I had to do it on national television, and now, this fight is happening."
Since then, however, Mosley has had to endure all manner of chiding, insults and personal attacks from Mayweather ranging from his past steroid use to his divorce.
Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, has said that Mosley has navigated Mayweather's aggression with aplomb.
"Oscar lost those early [verbal] battles against Mayweather, and it carried over into Oscar's emotions in the fight. But if you don't lose early battles, then you don't carry those emotions into the ring. I've said this a thousand times before, and I'll say it again: Shane is an exceptional human being who just happens to be able to fight his a**. off," said Richardson.
"Every great fighter gives you misdirection. You see pictures of him, and he's always smiling ,and you wonder, why the f*** is he so happy?" said Richardson. "If you ever saw him with his smaller children, when he gets with them, he turns nine years old too. But when he was in there with Margarito, Margarito was like, 'Where did the smile go?'"
A lot of the tranquility has had to do with the presence in camp of his 19-year-old son, Shane Jr., who is a successful amateur fighter.
"My son has had a chance to see everything, and now, he wants to make this a part of his career. I'll probably have to fall back after a couple of big fights and start training him a little bit and make sure that he becomes the best that he can be. I want him to have his own destiny and his own road. And when it's his time, I want his road to be clear," said Mosley, acknowledging that his involvement with his son could factor into his timetable for retirement.
"It all depends on all of the big fights that I win. If I win this one, and I win the next one," said Mosley, who would like to face Manny Pacquiao should he defeat Mayweather. "After that, you know, then, there's not much more that I can do, Once you've done that, you've pretty much run your course."
In 2003, Mosley admitted that he injected the steroids, "the cream," and, "the clear," which Mosley obtained from Conte through a relationship with his former strength trainer, Daryl Hudson. Mosley has insisted that he took the drugs without knowing that they were illegal steroids.
At Mayweather's insistence, both fighters are contractually bound to be randomly blood- and urine-tested for steroids by the United States Anti-Doping Agency leading up to their clash.
Mosley also has agreed to a rematch in the event Mayweather loses. In addition, Mosley's guaranteed $7 million purse is more than three times less than Mayweather's of $22.5 million, which is a record for a non-heavyweight.
Mosley, nevertheless, said that the buildup to the fight has not been emotionally taxing.
"It's been a big fight. It's the type of fight that I want. It's been a big promotion. But when you get into a big fight like this, you get what you ask for. Now, it's just time for me to perform," said Mosley, adding that he would spend the last two days winding down and getting himself mentally prepared.
"The last 48 hours, I'm just making sure that I maintain the weight. That's one of the most difficult parts of the fight is making sure that you make the weight," said Mosley, who said that he weighed 149 pounds on Wednesday, but could enter the ring at close to 160 pounds. "After the weigh-in, you eat real good and you make sure that you get a lot of rest. You just relax and get ready for the show."
The promotion has not been without its moments during which Mosley has been upset, mostly, in regard to the subject of steroids.
During an April 20, national conference call, Mosley lashed out at a reporter's question concerning the Olympic style drug testing in correlation to his admitted steroid use, which Mosley claims was inadvertent.
"It's ridiculous now that the media wants to make me the poster boy of steroids. If you guys want to continue to put that out there, so be it. You guys know the truth. I've always been a clean fighter, and I've been knocking out everyone since 2003 and before 2003," said Mosley.
"I don't feel that I should be condemned for something that I never tested positive for. I just told the truth about what happened. The truth was brought to me by the federal people that took me to court and who brought me up as a witness," said Mosley.
"So the truth was revealed to me there," said Mosley. "There's this man [Conte] that I had seen one time in my whole entire life, and at the deposition, that was the second time that I saw him."
During an April 22 interview with ESPN Radio, Mosley made a 90-second commentary about Mayweather's muscular security guards, who were shown lifting weights on Episode II of HBO's 24/7 series.
Mosley said the body guards "look like they're on steroids," adding that, "Maybe [Mayweather] dibbles and dabbles a little bit."
The fighter also asked if Mayweather "Is he gay or something?" when addressing Mayweather's ongoing comments about Mosley's "jheri curl" hairstyle, his natty attire during press conferences.
But the press conference this past Wednesday at the Hollywood Theatre at The MGM was largely devoid of the acrimony which had characterized much of the hype leading up to the fight.
"I'm pretty sure Shane is in great shape, but I don't think that he's in better shape than me," said Mayweather, in significantly toned-down rhetoric. "May the best man win. I am pretty sure that Shane feels deep in his heart and deep in his soul he is going to win."
Mosley, meanwhile, thanked "God for this match up," his father and former trainer, Jack Mosley, "giving me life, for bringing me to the gym when I was such a young guy, and, for staying with me through the hard times."
"It's been a long time since I've been in a big fight like this. I'm excited. I'm happy. We have three more days. The plan is to be Sugar Shane Mosley. To be the best in the ring. I'm gonna win this fight by being Shane Mosley," said Mosley.
"I'm very thankful to be in this position and have this opportunity. I've put everything I have into this fight. It's going to be one, if not the biggest fight of the decade, even of all history," said Mosley.
"I hope Mayweather is ready for this. Like [Mayweather's trainer] Roger [Mayweather] said, we can have dinner afterwards. We can have a big party. But right now, there's no love lost."
During Thursday's round-table discussion, however, Mosley couldn't resist bringing up the fact that he felt that he had gained somewhat of an edge over Mayweather.
"I can see him getting a little more nervous and scared. I think that it was at the press conference the other day. I didn't see it, but they say that when I turned around, to turn his way, he was already blocking," said Mosley, referring to the traditional moment when the fighters were posed together for media photo opportunities.
"I didn't see that. But everybody told me that he kind of like flinched, and I was like, 'Wow,'" said Mosley. "So maybe his nerves are getting tapped a little bit, which is interesting at this point. I mean, he should know that I'm not going to lay a hand on him until the first bell rings."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
No comments:
Post a Comment